2 People Killed, 5 Injured in Traffic Accidents

Separate traffic accidents claimed the lives of a 30-year-old Los Angeles woman and a 39-year-old Las Vegas man in Ventura County early Monday, authorities said.

Other accidents Monday injured two people and snarled traffic in Camarillo and Simi Valley.

In the most dramatic crash, a car driven by a suspected drunk driver plunged 100 feet off Pacific Coast Highway onto the rocky shoreline near Point Mugu State Park, killing one passenger and leaving three others wandering the roadway in the predawn hours.

The accident occurred about 3:15 a.m. when four Los Angeles residents driving to Santa Monica got lost and ended up in Ventura County, said CHP Officer Dave Cockrill. They turned around near Point Mugu State Park and were about three miles south of Mugu Rock when the driver lost control of the 1987 Toyota Camry while rounding a curve, Cockrill said. A 30-year-old woman passenger was thrown from the car and pronounced dead at the scene, the California Highway Patrol said. The woman’s identity was being withheld until relatives in Mexico could be notified.

Passenger Graciela Gomez, 24, was brought to St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Oxnard, where she was treated and released.

The driver, Carlos Munoz, 20, was treated at the hospital and later booked into Ventura County Jail. He was being held on suspicion of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and of hit-and-run driving with death or injury, jail officials said. Passenger Adalverto Quintana, 19, was being treated for a fractured pelvis and other injuries, Cockrill said. Quintana was listed in fair condition.

In the second fatal accident, a 39-year-old Las Vegas man was killed after losing control of his Lincoln Continental on Vineyard Avenue in El Rio about 3:30 a.m., authorities said.

The man, whose identity was being withheld until his family is notified, was traveling north on Vineyard near Beedy Street. His car veered into the southbound lane and onto the shoulder of the road, hit a power pole and flipped over, the CHP said.

He died at the scene, coroner’s officials said.

Staff writers Mack Reed and Scott Hadly contributed to this story.